as the one who went to the Golden Triangle to secure heroin for the CIA,
during the Vietnam war, that area is now of Major interest for its "natural" resource

So when you see your old uncles and great uncles, around the holidays, when they get a bit sauced ask them if the Vietnam war was battled over US domination of the Golden Triangle opium, you will be shocked about the truth, but maybe not!

NAYPYIDAW, Myanmar — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton announced on Thursday that the United States would loosen some restrictions on international financial assistance and development programs in Myanmar in response to the country’s nascent political and economic reforms. The United States and Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, also agreed to discuss the possibility of upgrading diplomatic relations — suspended for two decades — and exchanging ambassadors, a step that could transform American diplomacy in Southeast Asia. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/02/w...-on-aid-to-myanmar.html?_r=1&pagewanted=print

Clinton challenges Burma on reforms (UKPA) – 1 hour ago

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has challenged Burma's leaders to continue and expand reforms.She offered the isolated country a small package of rewards for steps it has already taken but made clear that more must be done, including breaking military ties with North Korea.She said the US was ready to further improve relations with the civilian government - but only if it stays on the path of democratisation.In a series of modest first steps, she announced that Washington would allow Burma to participate in a US-backed grouping of Mekong River countries; no longer block enhanced co-operation between the country and the International Monetary Fund; and support intensified UN health, microfinance and counter-narcotics programmes.http://www.google.com/hostednews/uk...JDTJH7VRfrF_QUQOA?docId=N0185751322720804958A

Counter- Narcotics PrograMMeees???? Yeah Right!!!!!!!!!!

As seen in Afghanistan that means protection ofand enhancement of opium production, under US supervison, and as seen in Colombia it means portection of Coca porduction and cultivation

Southeast Asia Jan 30, 2010

How Myanmar's opium grows By Brian McCartan

BANGKOK - The controversy over the scale of Myanmar's opium production took another turn with the release of a new report that claims cultivation has surged in territories where the military government has recently taken control. The report draws more extreme conclusions than recent research released by the United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime (UNODC), whose Bangkok-based representatives declined an invitation to attend the new report's release.

Entitled "Poisoned Hills: Opium cultivation surges under government control in Burma", the report was released by the Palaung Women's Organization (PWO), a non-governmental organization based in Mae Sot, Thailand. The new research corroborates the findings of previous reports about the drug trade

in Myanmar, also known as Burma, published by the Shan Herald Agency for News (SHAN), which unlike the UNODC relies on an extensive network of sources inside the Shan state for its data.

The PWO report said that "amounts [of opium grown] are far higher than reported in the annual surveys of the [UNODC], and are flourishing not in 'insurgent and ceasefire areas,' as claimed by the UN, but in areas controlled by Burma's military government". The report described how Myanmar authorities systematically extort fees from opium poppy farmers and file false eradication reports. The group concluded that "unless the regime's militarization strategies are challenged, international funding will make little difference to the drug problem in Burma". http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/LA30Ae01.html

This like other issues of regime change, this also seems to be a continuation of Bush policies;

from globalresearch.ca back in 2007 under Bush

China has played a major role pressing opium growers to eradicate. 4. The Laotian government has led its own opium eradication campaign. Officials see the link between poverty and opium, and the fact that “it is mostly organized crime syndicates that profit”.These narco-developments, parallel with

3) continued failure to control either the Middle East or contain the rising political and economic power of China, cast a different light on the sudden burst of interest on the part of the Bush administration to back a coup or regime change in Myanmar. The Bush administration, the epitome of criminal political power, does not support “human rights”. It will utilize every means, including overt military force, to protect geostrategic interests that depend on the world drug trade. The revitalization of the Golden Triangle drug trade, and the installation or support for an openly pro-US regime in Myanmar, benefits Western financial interests. Any geostrategic foothold in Southeast Asia also benefits efforts to contain China.http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=6919